Book 4 Chapter 10
Episode 84
“Wow, this is…”
The professors looking into Rein's magic circle exchanged hollow laughs born of admiration.
“This is also beautiful.”
“To think he completed 5-star magic in such a short time!”
“This alone is amazing.”
5-star magic is considered the most beautiful magic circle among mages. The primary reason is that it can form a pentagram, the most perfect star shape.
“If the magic circles of the two previous students seemed like an attempt to blend art and magic…”
The runes and mathematical formulas, densely filling the hanji paper and extending orderly in all directions, appear as a work of art in the eyes of mages.
“Student Rein’s magic circle is solely on the path of magic! It exudes confidence to win with only the essence of magic!”
As Vice-Dean Kyle showered him with such praise, his genuine smile causing it, the atmosphere in the audience, which had already leaned towards Krista, changed completely.
“The Vice-Dean is praising him immensely?”
“Of course! He completed 5-star magic!”
The latter-day disciples of the Eight Great Academies—Logan, Lillian, and Nora—muttered this, unable to tear their astonished gaze away.
“If there isn't a single error in the calculations of Young Master’s 5-star magic…”
“He might win…”
“Against Warden and Harimoon… ★”
The sheer volume of magic displayed by 5-star magic is truly explosive; it’s not something 3-star magic with double runes or 4-star magic can catch up to.
“Yes, that’s it!”
In the VIP room, Ellin Ludwig clenched her fist and nodded vigorously. Seri’s face lit up brightly.
“Did big brother do well?”
“Of course! No matter how talented Rein is, he can’t bridge the gap in artistic sense in such a short time.”
So, he just needs to push through with something powerful from the start. What is she talking about? Obviously, it's an overwhelming skill that his peers can’t even approach.
“What are you babbling on about just looking at a magic circle, you rascal! Especially with high-level magic like this.”
High-level magic is delicate and sensitive.
Let's assume five gears turn simultaneously. Wouldn't a problem arise if just one of them had a defect?
“Then, let’s see just how far that confidence reaches!”
The moment Marhena injected mana into the magic circle, a golden ripple suddenly and gently spread across her vision.
Huh…?
When she felt something strange and closed and opened her eyes, the Dragon’s Blood Field had vanished, and a new world was unfolding, soaking her vision.
As if the previous ripple had opened a door to a new world.
“This is…”
“A flower field…?”
Summer insects, coloring the hills yellow, hid among the blooming wild flowers and sang.
Far away, at the horizon where her sight ended, the sun set below the mountain peaks, making this golden world even more exhilarating, distant, and yet terrifying.
A wind carrying the heat of summer blew, caressing the flower field, and petals scattered, brushing past the professors’ faces.
‘Much of it is blurry and incomplete.’
Like an immature landscape painted by a child, it was far from the appearance of true nature. Nevertheless, no, precisely because of that, this magic…
“But what is this smell?”
A smell emanated from somewhere.
A savory yet acrid… smell of tobacco? The strange experience didn’t end there.
The wind gently settled on her head, making her feel a warmth as if someone was stroking her hair.
It was a memory, a sensation, a longing remaining in Rein's heart… the tobacco smoke of Frieda and Kiez’s hand stroking the boy’s head.
“…!”
It desperately touched a fragment of memory that the professors, who were already adults and elders, cherished in their hearts.
Everyone had been to a flower field like this before. With precious ones like parents or siblings.
And the things they had done for them, the memories of laughing and chatting with them…
‘This isn’t just a materialized landscape remaining in his heart…’
Marhena had to blink blankly in this absurd experience.
‘Somehow, I can intensely feel the emotions he felt at that time, and the emotions he feels recalling that day…’
Everything is felt.
The excitement he felt looking at the dazzling scenery, the distant feeling he felt smelling the scent of summer, and the sense of loss that he can never return to this place…
‘He's only sixteen at best, but how on earth can he feel such emotions in one single place?’
But as if the illusion ended here.
As if the daydream was over.
The next moment, sounds from the world poured into this not-of-this-world place, and the flower field, where twilight slanted, began to distort.
“…”
“…”
“…”
As if they had watched a play, the young professors exchanged hollow laughs, lost in the lingering aftertaste.
“To be able to embody the beauty of nature in summer so vividly…”
The old professors, recalling exciting yet poignant memories of an irretrievable childhood, quickly wiped their eyes.
“Student Rein, what magic did you use? Were you an illusionist?”
“No, I don’t have a talent for illusions.”
“It was a truly perfect illusion though.”
“It's not an illusion. The rune that became the key to my magic was ‘Se’ (世; world\/generation).”
‘Se’ (世)…?
The professors had to fall silent for a moment in bewilderment.
“Isn’t the rune of ‘Se’ (世) only used by sages who have reached the rank of 6-star?”
“It’s famous as a rune used in mental barriers.”
“It couldn't have been easy to use…”
Then Rein shrugged, as if it were nothing.
“It wasn't that difficult using the formula I created.”
e^ix = cosx + isinx.
This formula can express the relationship between exponential and trigonometric functions very simply.
“If you substitute π for the variable x, the complicated-looking formula can be expressed simply as a constant. More concisely, it would be e^πi + 1 = 0.”
“…?!”
“If you keep this formula in mind, it's not difficult at all, as you can use constants to express the relationship between pi, irrational numbers, and imaginary numbers needed to project an image.”
The audience had to doubt their eyes.
Who on earth is this boy, teaching mathematics to the professors of the <Delighten> Magic University, composed of the empire's foremost scholars?
And weren't the professors nodding as if they had realized something from his potentially impolite remarks?
“A complex number in the position of the exponent of an exponential function…?”
“Exponents could only be defined within the range of real numbers, so it was impossible to construct a mental domain…?”
“If a method for creating functions with complex numbers as exponents like this were developed…?”
The boy did not hide his knowledge.
Nor did he show off and conceal it.
The dean who had taken him in as a child had shared his knowledge without reservation, so he believed that was the right way.
“To think such a beautiful formula exists in the world.”
Such reactions poured not only from the professors but also from the elder-level figures of the Eight Great Sixteens who were watching the head student 결정전.
“He figured out that formula himself?”
“Is he really sixteen?”
“Why was he called the Genius (天災) Young Master?”
When Kasena Page, her shoulders unconsciously swaying in the waves of praise, looked up at Madelia and asked for the reason, a trembling voice returned.
“That just now… is a formula worthy of being called a great discovery of the century. It would advance modern mathematics several times over.”
Caben Ludwig, you rascal…
How on earth did you teach your son? What did you do to make him so brilliant?
“Come now, while it's certainly a remarkable mathematical formula, shouldn't we focus on the judging now?”
It was Vice-Dean Kyle who brought the atmosphere back on track, which had been veering off in a strange direction. Kyle scanned the magic circle, constantly marveling.
‘Constructing a mental world with the rune of ‘Se’ (世), and engraving the rune of ‘Myeong’ (明; brightening) on a fire-attribute magic circle to express twilight…’
And what was the smell? He engraved the rune of ‘Hun’ (熏; burning incense) into earth-attribute magic.
Did he choose the sense of smell to contend with sight and sound?
Smell is an excellent sense for evoking emotions. If this was intentional, it’s also an incredibly remarkable choice.
“If there was one regrettable thing, it was the duration of the magic. It disappeared just as I was about to feel something, what was the reason?”
Then Rein also clicked his tongue, looking a bit abashed.
“Actually, those flowers, I made them with magic I learned from the Local Development Magic Club.”
Aha, Logan's eyes sparkled as he realized the secret of the flowers. Was it the magic he used at the end of that match, the one that temporarily breathed life into dead plants?
“I couldn’t extend the duration of that magic no matter what I did. To be frank, it’s due to my inadequacy.”
Professor Owen felt his muscles twitch.
‘Krista, I thought that damn monkey was the only one absorbing everything around him…’
Was this guy the same?
No, was he an even greater monster?
How much more powerful does he intend to become, not content with his talent, but absorbing everything around him?
“You are modest. Then, one last thing, what was your intention in thinking of this magic? To create a gap with your magical skill?”
“I think those two also have excellent magical skills… I chose this because I don’t have aesthetic sense or anything like that.”
He can’t do music.
He can’t do art.
If there’s something I have that they don’t, it would be the experience of seeing beautiful places.
“So, I wondered if I could just show it to you vividly. The scene I saw and truly felt was beautiful.”
Of course, it didn't go well.
The flower field I saw with everyone back then was even more beautiful than this, it shone even more brilliantly.
Rein Ludwig smiled shyly, scratching his cheek.
“But still, perhaps because I’m still very lacking, it didn’t turn out as well as I thought.”
But would anyone who saw this still feel that Rein was lacking?
All the students present here had confirmed what they had vaguely felt.
That Rein’s level was fundamentally different… only one person was different.
‘Rein Ludwig, indeed, you are…’
It was Krista Warden.
What flickered in her eyes as she looked at Rein's back was a fighting spirit that refused to be discouraged by this difference in class.
‘I’m so glad I met a rival like you. I can grow several times more by watching you.’
Caroline smiled gently, looking at her student’s gaze. Though in her heart, she was so nervous her lips felt shriveled…
‘I thought Krista would definitely take the top spot with such a favorable theme.’
Rein Ludwig as an opponent is just too high-level. There was something in that boy that couldn't be explained by the word "genius."
“It was certainly excellent magic, and an incredible formula was applied, but this was a judgment of beauty.”
From the judges' seats, Professor Theon, who had been deep in thought, finally spoke in a low voice.
“What I focused on was the detail of the art. Students Kaiden and Warden, you could feel they were beautiful just by looking.”
“I agree.”
“But in Student Ludwig’s case, there were quite a few shortcomings. In terms of detail, that is. Should I say it was blurry, like a child’s scribble?”
Then Professor Kyle smiled, as if to say, “You’ve put it well.”
“A child’s scribble, indeed. I felt that way too.”
Kyle, that rascal…
It was then that Ellin Ludwig gnashed her teeth.
“But the direction of evaluation is a bit different.”
“…?”
“What do you feel when you see a child clumsily but earnestly expressing their inner world on paper? Do you immediately think, ‘Wow, they drew it really badly’?”
“Of course not.”
“Exactly. But as we grow into adults, we stop drawing such pictures. Because we’re afraid of failing.”
Because those who have already become adults teach those who have not yet become adults like this:
Walk only the path of success.
Don't even touch things that seem destined to fail, human time is finite… Thus, human thought and the spirit of challenge gradually shrink.
“But in this magic, I could see it. A pure curiosity like a child’s. And a spirit of challenge to pioneer a new path in a place like a final exam, where failure is not tolerated. Finally, the skill that perfectly supports these.”
Then another professor shook his head slightly, expressing disagreement with Kyle’s opinion.
“But isn’t that the same for Students Kaiden and Warden?”
“Both students were certainly outstanding. But couldn't another genius from the Harimoon Faction or the Warden family do that someday?”
“…!”
“Countless styles of magic have been born throughout the advancement of magic. The Seven-string Zither of the Harimoon Faction and the Bloodline Limit of the Warden family are among them. But were they all perfect from the start?”
“That… they were not.”
“What Student Rein created is just the beginning. It’s natural for it to be immature and clumsy.”
But someday, at some point in the future, a new school of magic might emerge, making such magic its specialty.
“If you call it personal favoritism, I have nothing to say, but I really like Student Rein Ludwig. As I mentioned during the midterm exam, I can glimpse the future of magic in this student’s magic.”
Kyle smiled gently at Rein once, then picked up his brush and wrote his precious score on the hanji paper.
[10]
Then Marhena, who had been watching her juniors’ discussion with her arms crossed, let out an “Ahaha…” laugh and picked up a brush.
“You’re right, you rascal. Then giving a push to a commendable child’s back is one of the things an old person should do.”
And the moment Marhena put down her brush, a silence as if the world had frozen flowed… followed by an explosion of cheers.
“Crazy! The Vice-Dean and Dean gave a 10 for the first time?!”
“I’ve never seen that person give a 10 before!”
“No way, Rein Ludwig is actually winning?! Overtaking Harimoon and Warden?”
To Ellin, who was anxiously watching the other professors scribble with their brushes on the hanji paper, Brim approached and tightly clasped her hand.
Their hands were trembling violently.
From a pride-induced, body-shaking joy and from the impatience caused by tension…
“All judging has concluded.”
Finally, all the professors raised their hanji papers.
In the silence where only heartbeats pounded, the assistant, who had summed up all the professors’ scores on a portable whiteboard, opened their trembling lips.
“With this, the top student of the first semester final exam for <Delighten> Class 1388 has been decided. The student whose name is called, please step forward.”`
